Advent, which began yesterday (11/27), is our most counter-cultural season, and so every Advent I say the same thing. This is a time for us to slow down.

I know that we are entering a hectic time of year. It sometimes seems as if the whole world goes crazy every December! My children are now old enough that my own busy-ness involves less shopping and fewer children’s events than it used to. And still my December calendar is already quite full!

At Saint David’s, we have lots of seasonal activities of different kinds. Some of what we are doing is mainly for fun. I think about the Greening of the Church, Breakfast with Santa, or Lessons and Carols. Some of what we are doing is to meet particular needs—for example, the Agawam Christmas Project and the Blue Christmas service. And, of course, much of what we do is business as usual—our regular routine of worship, and Bible study, and outreach.

I am proud of how much we are doing, and I hope that people will participate in whatever they can. But we must not lose sight of the reason for the season! In Advent—the four weeks before Christmas—the Church invites us to prepare ourselves to celebrate the birth of our Lord. Activities and festivities can be part of that preparation. And activities and festivities can distract us from what matters most.

I encourage you to take a few minutes now, in the early part of Advent, before things get too intense, to think about what spiritual disciplines might help you to have a holy Advent, might help you to get ready to welcome Jesus into your life in a new and deeper way.

For most people, those disciplines should include time for prayer and Bible study. If you are not already doing so, consider saying Morning Prayer during Advent. Use one of our prayer cycles (for our diocese, our parish family, or the nations of the world). Make time to participate in one of our Bible studies.

Today, like so many people, I will eat more than I should. Tomorrow, my family will probably do some shopping. That is to say, for us, as for so many Americans, Thanksgiving is all about consumption.

But consumption was not the original point of this day. Below is the proclamation by Abraham Lincoln that created the national holiday. It does not mention turkey, football, or shopping. Instead, Lincoln emphasizes giving thanks to God, healing a divided nation, and caring for the least among us.

The Original Thanksgiving Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln (1863)

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans. mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October, A. D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

Our fourth and final stewardship reflection comes to us from the Reverend Francisco Garcia, a priest in California.

With the rise of immensely popular TV shows like Game of Thrones, it’s safe to say that Kings and Kingdoms are back. Millions of people have been captivated by the storyline of competing noble houses vying for ultimate power — to gain control of the monarchy of the Seven Kingdoms represented by the Iron Throne. Wrapped up in the plotline are tales of deceit, lust, corruption, and violence as the means to most ends.

Although I’m not a fan of Game of Thrones, I have been following its rise in popularity. While people have critiqued the series for its explicit use of all kinds of violence, I think that if you are going to portray a somewhat realistic depiction of Kingdoms, even ones filled with fantasy tales of dragons and magic, then it would be remiss to gloss over the brutal, violent nature of Kingdom life. One need not look very hard in our own biblical narrative to see that this is the case.

And so, on Christ the King Sunday, we are challenged to follow a radically different kind of King and live into a different notion of Kingdom. Many people, including myself, have had trouble with references to Jesus as the “King of kings and Lord of lords,” for the patriarchal and oppressive trappings that are embedded in the very language and history of these terms.

However, as I reflect on stewardship and what this means to follow Jesus authentically in our day, I see that there is a redeeming, subversive value in the Kingly references to Jesus. For us, Jesus is the most concrete, palpable, and supreme revelation of God’s love in the world. Today’s verses from Colossians tell us that “in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” Jesus entered into the world to serve as the true example of nobility — a divine, countercultural force to challenge the oppressive, violent, and greedy ways of earthly kings and kingdoms. Jesus came to usher in a wave of love, compassion, and justice so powerful that it would challenge and call humanity to live as we were intended to — in community, with radical generosity. Not hoarding wealth, power, resources, and privilege for ourselves — but sharing it with others freely, especially with the least of these among us.

So, we need not only rely on kings or thrones but also on the generous Spirit of God that is pleased to dwell among us even today. This is what it means to be the Church, and to follow Jesus. Living generously is more than a stewardship message — it is indeed the way to the grace and love-filled Kingdom of God.

This reflection comes to us from Richard Felton, Executive Director of The Episcopal Network for Stewardship.

In my Common English Bible translation of the story of healing found in Luke, the story is captioned, “Jesus heals a Samaritan.” The story, of course, is about Jesus healing ten people with a serious skin disease, but only the Samaritan returns to thank him and give God praise.

Jesus notes that it is the foreigner, the greater outcast, who is overwhelmed with gratitude. The others do what they are told to do, no doubt, but show no real gratitude to the one who transformed their lives. One wonders what they said to the priests whom they were instructed to visit. Other than being healed, do they live life differently after this miracle?

I bet the Samaritan does. He’s already shown deep gratitude. He prostrated himself in front of Jesus to praise him for his newfound life. He’s had to live apart from friends and loved ones because of his disease and now he can rejoin them. He’s had to rely on begging to survive and now he can work. Oh, the joy in such transformation!

There are many times when we experience miracles, small and large, in our lives. Do we take the time to give thanks for them or do we just go on about our daily work?

Do we even recognize God’s grace and glory in our daily lives, let alone give thanks for them? Do we see God’s abundance in our lives or simply think that most of what we have is the result of our own hard work?

When we choose to live generously, we choose first and foremost to be grateful. Grateful to God for what we have; grateful to our families and friends for their love and support; grateful to our faith communities for their acceptance and challenge. Gratitude opens our soul to a fuller life because it opens our mind to seeing all that we have been given.

When we accept that we have received so much, we can then live generously. That generosity is more than how we share what we have. It is how we welcome the stranger or foreigner, and how we forgive those who have offended us. Living generously can transform our lives and transform our communities. It is a way of praising God for all we have been given.

I did not support Donald Trump. Last night, I went to bed still assuming that Hilary Clinton would be our next President. This morning, I learned that I was wrong. It will take me some time to come to terms with the fact that Trump won. I worry for our country. I worry particularly for the most vulnerable among us. And it may well be that I find myself conscience-bound to oppose many of President Trump’s policies.

But for now, I choose to put my trust in our political institutions, which have stood us in good stead for well over two hundred years.

And I take comfort in what President-elect Trump said in his victory speech last night. After a bitter and divisive campaign which often seemed to bring out the worst in all of us, Trump called for something better.

Instead of threatening to imprison Secretary Clinton, he said: “Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country.” That is encouraging.

Instead of fanning the flames of political partisanship, he said, “Now it is time for America to bind the wounds of division, [we] have to get together. To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be President for all of Americans, and this is so important to me. For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, … I'm reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so that we can work together and unify our great country.”

Instead of fanning the flames of bigotry and xenophobia, he said, “[Ours] is a movement comprised of Americans from all races, religions, backgrounds, and beliefs, who want and expect our government to serve the people -- and serve the people it will.”

It was an ugly campaign. But Trump claimed that he has grown and matured. If his acceptance speech is an accurate reflection of the man he now is, our future may be brighter than it seems right now to many Americans. My prayer is that it is. Only time will tell.